Conductive wire is often used to transmit electronic signals. The wire must be protected, or insulated, and thermoplastic coatings are ordinarily used for this. The thermoplastic is extruded from a molten state onto and around the wire. The thermoplastic materials are selected on the basis of having a low dielectric constant and a low dissipation factor. It has previously been found that if the thermoplastic is foamed as it is applied to the wire, the dielectric constant is desirably lowered, due to the formation of numerous small noninterconnected cells in the foam. Foamed insulation around transmission wire is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,072,583 which describes a nucleated foaming process for extruding perfluorinated polymer foam with a dissolved gas blowing agent.
Boron nitride has been the nucleating agent of choice in most commercial applications for fluoropolymer foams. Besides nucleating foam cells, boron nitride is attractive because it is thermally stable, chemically inert, has excellent electrical properties (at 1% loading there is very little change in dissipation factor or dielectric constant due to the boron nitride), is white and has low toxicity. It is, however, very expensive. The compositions of this invention, fluoropolymers containing synergistic combinations of boron nitride and certain inorganic salts, give greatly enhanced foam nucleation. This not only allows a significant reduction in the amount of costly boron nitride needed but also gives improved foam in terms of smaller cells. Better capacitance and diameter uniformity are also attained.
The compositions of this invention are useful in producing foams for other applications as well. For example foamed sheet for electrical insulation or heat insulation, or cushioning, and foamed pipe or tubing and the like.